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ABOUT AIA
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LETTERS:
Is AIA promoting stereotypes? I recently came across Rick Lax's "Confessions of a Rice King," and I cannot believe that it was posted on a website that claims to "be a central source of information for all things of interest to people of Asian Pacific descent living in the United States." If it was submitted as a parody, I don't think that it is funny or instructive at all. I absolutely do not think that this knowledge has increased my power or my pride at all. Accepting this editorial is another example of a major problem that affects the Asian American community, passivity in the face of racism. You allowed Lax to express his racism on an Asian American website, which will only validate his opinions. I hope that in the future you will scrutinize your articles more carefully and choose pieces which truly are of interest to people of Asian Pacific descent. Sincerely, Philip Mayer We may not agree with everything that Mr. Lax had to say, but we do defend his right to say it. Just as we defend yours. The Asians in America project is not here to present the politicially correct agenda of the Asian American community. It's here to present any and all information that might be of interest to the community. We believe in out motto - "Knowledge is Power, Knowledge is Pride." And by this we mean ALL knowledge. Politically correct or otherwise.
Getting our porn stars straight. Stumbled across your article here. (Confessions of a "Rice King") Fairly well written with the ovjective to lay out personal perspective from the get go. One thing that reinforces your perspective a bit is that you mistakenly wrote that Lucy Liu was cast in "Very Bad Things" when it was actually porn star Kobe Tai. The analysis of why you would do so is debatable and open to interpretation that can give you credit or take away from your credibility with a sensitive subject. All in all it really doesn't matter. Just felt like pointing it out, I'm probably not the first one. You're on your path to learning to being a sensitive white guy in the modern world. -Leonard Shek
Up-to-Date - October 7, 2004 I just came across your wonderful website. I have been trying to come up with a comprehensive list of Asian American Festivals and Employee groups. Your events listings are great--and up to date! - Sara
Abercrombie & Fitch - August 26, 2004 You have a link (August 15-21 2004) posted up about the Abercrombie & Fitch racist shirt(s) incident and on the side bar you have Abercrombie & Fitch product ads. I understand it's through Google. It's funny and it hurts at the same time. I remember going into A&F a long time ago up in Seattle. I encountered the most snootiest employees and none the less, felt unwelcome. Never will set foot again in that store and I will ceratainly not wear any of their shit. I cringe when I see Asians wearing that crap. Give more money to people who make fun of you. Keep us informed...peace. - Ed Thanks Ed. We don't always see what ads go up in other people's screens across the country. But I will make sure to add A&F as one of the "Don't show" sites in our Google settings. Suggestions from Nebraska - July 3, 2004 I would suggest AIA start advertising its existence and services to the various pan-Asian or ethnic-specific Asian groups in the form of direct mailings, e-mail, or telecalls. That way, various organizations can post your group's URL on their websites and know what you're about. Everything should be about awareness and networking. Since I'm aware of this organization, I'm certainly going to pass along the word to other Asians in Omaha, Nebraska. Have a great day! Great suggestions. We've already been doing e-mail blasts and we try to advertise at APA events. We've also just recently printed up our first set of promotional postcards.
Negative Stereotypes - July 14, 2003 Recommended by a fellow educator, I tried your Web site on 7/14/03. I clicked on "News" and read two articles, one about a murder in Wisconsin for which a Taiwanese-American suspect has been picked up and the other about a murder for which a Vietnamese American is suspected. Both articles are borderline sensational, perpetuate stereotypes and leave me with no desire to further explore your Web site. Is this the kind of image about Asian Americans that you hope to portray? While your "News" section need not necessarily exclude "bad news" about Asian - Ameircans that is making current headlines, do you have a policy about what articles you put up on the Web site? I am sure that you are all too aware that one problem minority - Americans face is news converage - sensationalist, negative, and stereotypic-supporting news tends to outweigh any other kinds of "news". Can you broaden your "news" sources to include other than the traditional media? - Madeline Thank you for visiting AIA and for your comments. It is unfortunate that you found the material in our news section to be "borderline sensational" It just so happened to be the news that was available on the Asian American community on this date. If you go back through previous news pages (under "Yesterday's news") you will see that we also post good news about the Asian American community. And we do make it a point to use established and respectable news sources. Our policy is to not censor information as much as possible. We believe that knowledge and truth about our community is the best way for us to act and improve upon ourselves. And if there is an injustice done to a an Asian American defendant, this may be the only way our advocacy groups will be aware of it. I understand that there is a tendency to focus on the negative aspects of cultural groups, but I am personally counting on the ability of the general public to deal with news and information critically and objectively. We don't make any money off this site, so we have no reason to sensationalize the information in hopes of increasing readership. As for broadening our sources, we are an all volunteer organization and are constantly trying to expand our knowledge base and sources, but we do have limited resources. And we do believe that the Spotlight sections in our website help balance out the site by presenting our community in a favorable light. I hope this helps to improve your impression of the site and will feel more comfortable about passing this site on to your colleagues. Perhaps you can take into account the entire site instead of two articles out of several hundred. - AIA Thanks for your thoughtful response. I am sure the site is wonderful and balanced and I'll go out of my way to check it out again. - Madeline
Tell us what you think! The Asians in America project receives dozens of inquiries every week. Many of which are requests for information or advice and others are simply comments on the work we do. Please feel free to send us your opinions about our site or any issue facing the Asian Pacific American community. We'd love to hear from you!
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